Senior National & Inter-State Table Tennis: Yashaswini crowned National champion

For a player who ended 2025 as the India's No. 2, the recent struggles saw a dip in her ranking that placed the 21-year-old as low as the eighth at the 87th Senior National & Inter-State Table Tennis Championship in Indore. It was going to be another week and another uphill climb.

Bengaluru: While it wasn't exactly a slump, Yashaswini Ghorpade's performances during the early months of a fresh season weren't to the best of her liking. The constant travel had given the Karnataka paddler little time to work on her game and mentally, she was struggling to zone-in fully. 

For a player who ended 2025 as the India's No. 2, the recent struggles saw a dip in her ranking that placed the 21-year-old as low as eighth in the seeding at the 87th Senior National & Inter-State Table Tennis Championship in Indore. It was going to be another week and another uphill climb. 

Fully aware of the stakes at the biggest domestic tournament, the soft-spoken Yashaswini not only faced her own demons head-on but also shut out the outside noise of the doubters to crown herself the senior Nationals champion in a dramatic fashion. 

The Bengaluru girl, representing Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) at the event, secured her maiden women's singles National title by overcoming fellow PSPB paddler Syndrela Das in a 4-3 thriller. In what turned out to be a 60-minute roller-coaster, Yashaswini secured a 11-6, 12-14, 11-5, 9-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-8 victory to become only the third woman from Karnataka to claim the coveted prize after Archana Kamath in 2019 and Usha Sunderraj, whose last of the five titles came in 1968. 

"I still don't feel anything... Nothing great. I just feel normal, I think. The win hasn't kicked in yet. But yeah, I'm really tired," Yashaswini told DH over phone. 

"I had lost 1-4 to her last September. She played amazing then and today too. Her backhand is very strong and she is really amazing for her age. But I was prepared for all those shots from her. I kept my nerves in check and I really enjoyed my game today," she offered. 

Yashaswini credited the preparations, home food and staying close to family and friends for more than two weeks for her good outing at the Nationals. The 20-odd days in the city had given the youngster enough time to physically cool off, work on technical weaknesses and calm a cluttered mind. The rare off in the busy schedule came because Yashaswini decided to skip playing the WTT Feeder tournament in Dusseldorf in Germany because of travel uncertainties due to the West Asia crisis. 

"After a long time, I think I was at home and spent quality time with my parents. And got a lot of time on table. That made a huge difference in the way I performed these past few days. 

"The senior national title has a lot of respect. It will definitely be the most special trophy in my cabinet so far," said Yashaswini, who has also clinched the under-15 (Sub-junior) and U-19 (Junior) national titles once each. 

Speaking about his wards' spoils -- winning seven rounds en route to the top of the podium -- coach Anshuman Roy expressed relief and pride in the manner in which Yashaswini handled a daunting task. 

"We were dreaming about this from the last two years. And she finally achieved it even if the odds were all against her," offered Anshuman, who trains the latest National champion at his academy - UTT Skies High Performance Centre in JP Nagar here.

"Facing the top seed Sreeja Akula in the quarterfinal and defeating an experienced player like her in the deciding game was a big win. At 3-3 and 11-11 in the seventh, Yashu won 13-11. Again, in the final, it went to the wire. This will give her a big boost to chase bigger goals. The next target is to crack the top-50 in the world," said Anshuman.

The win on Saturday will also catapult Yashaswini as the new India No. 1 in women's singles.